Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1887-06-25
/ l. MUNICIPAL CRIME.
HOW. DIR. rALMAeE PROPOSES TO
DECREASE IT.
A Filthy City Always Wicked city.
Tho Newspapers of Place u Test OF
It's Morality--Compulsory Education
.,.,,to,

n
Tho Newspapers of u Place u lost OF
It's Morality-Con,pulsory Education
Advocated.
BROOKLYN, June 19.-This morning ut
the Tubcrnaclc the Rev. L. Dc Witt Tai
ma.e read, previous to the sermon, por-
tions Of Scripture descriptive Of alciont
cities and gave out the hymn
.Ficltls oro white, the harvest waiting;
Who will bear the shenvcs eway!
His text was, "And the men of the city
said unto Elisha Behold, pray thee, the
situation of this city is pleasant, as my
Lord sccth but the water Is nauSht and
the ground barren. And he said, Bring
me 1, new cruise, and put salt therein. Aud
they brought it to linn. Aud he went
forth unto the spring of the waters, and
cast the salt in there, and said. Thus said
the Lord, l have healed these waters;
there shall not be from thence any moro
death or barren lind. So the waters were
healed unto this day" II Kings ii, 19-223.
Dr. Tamage said: 1t is difficult to
estimate how much Of ting prosperity
and health of city arc dependent
upon good water. The time when
through we'll laid pipes and from safe
reservoir an abundance OF <watcr from
Croton or Ridgcwood or Schuylkill IS
brought into the city is appropriately eel
ebra:etl with oratiou and pyrotcchnic dis
play. Thank God every .Iqy for clear,
bright. beautiful spHrkliSza sssyater us it
drops in thc shower or losses up in the
fountain or rushes out at the hydrant
The city of Jericho, Notwithstanding all
its physical and commercial advantages,
was lacking in this important element.
There WAS enough water, but it was dis
b easetl, and the people were crying out by
a&cason thereof. Elisha, the prophet, comes
$& the rescue. lie says: "Get mca new
;.l,31i Cit with salt and bring it to1nc."
u uso Of salt WAS broughtsto the
ct, and soc him walking out to the
Val reservoir, and he takes that salt
agys it into the reservoir, and 10!
l. 4lpuritics depart, througha super
81 and divine influence, and the
: $fB IRE good and fresh and clear, and
Seflo people clap their hands and lift up
}(eaRcir faces in the gladuess. Water for
Jcfcho-c clear, bright, beautiful, God
given water!
At different times have pointed out to
you the fountains of municipal corruption,
md this morning propose to show you
what are the means for the rectiilcation OF
those fountains. There are four or five
kinds, of salt that have II cleansing ten
dcncy. So fur rs God may help me, !
shall bring cruc of salt to the work,
md empty it into the great reservoir of
municipal crime, sin and shame, ignorance
and abomination.
In this work of cleansing our cities, l
have first to remark that there is q work
for the broom and the shovel that nothing
else can do. There always has been an
in inatc connection between iniQUity and
dirt The. filthy parts of tho great cities
are always tie most iniQuitous parts. The
CUTTERS; and the pavcments Of the Fourth
ward, New York, illustrate and symbolic
the character of the people in the Fourth
ward
The first thing that bad man does
when he is converted is thoroughly to
wash himself There were, this morning,
on the way to the different churches,
thousands of men in proper apparel who,
before their conversion, were unfit in their
Sabbath dress When on the Sabbath l
see :. man uncleanly in his dress, my sus-
picions in regard to his moral character
ure aroused, and they are always well
founded. So as to allow no excuse for
lack of addition, God has cleft the CONT
nc,lts with rivers and lakes, and has sunk
five great oceans, and MI the world ought
to be clean. Away, then, With the dirt
from our cities, not only because the
physical health needs an ablution but be-
cause all the great moral and religious
interests Of the cities demand it rs Il posi-
pcgn aud always viii be s Mfc IL Ti CIV e
49,, uSh the upturning,of the earth for
pfovcncnt our city could not he
ets,IRessb Is G GifGr cr50K; "a fo5
Zf.,; .ttst' six months there is no excuse. It
is not merely matter of dust in the eyes,
and mud for the shoes, and of stencil for
the nostl.ils, but of morals for the soul
Another corrective influence that we
would bring TO bcar upon the evils of our
great cities is Christian printing press.
The newspapers of any place arc the test
of its morality or immortality. The news
boy who runs along the streets with roll
of papers under his arm is q tremendous
force that cannot be turned aside nor re-
sisted and ut his every step the city is
elevated or degraded. This hungry, all
dcyouriDg American mind must have
Something to read, and upon editors and
authors and book publishers and parents
1liu pcuCllCrS ICSG vllC iCSlO-icIbiIeJ VI
what tlcy shall read Almost every lnan
YOU meet has book in his hand or
newspaper in his pocket. What book is it
YOU have i'll Your hand? Whatncwspaper
is it YOU have in your pocket? Ministers
may preach, rcformers may plan, pliilan-
tilropists may toll for the elevation of the
suffering and the criminal, but until all
the newspapers OF the land and all the
I,o,l-collorc IF hr Ian1 cot fhnrOSnlV
AGAINST an Ubiquitous litcratire-untll
then we Shall bc fighting against fearful J
odds. Every time the cylinders of U:lr
great publishing houses turn they make
the Garth quake From them goes forth L,
thought like an angel Of light TO feed and
bless the world, or like an angel of dark
hess to sinite it with corruption and sin
and shame and death May God by his
omnipotent spirit purify and elevate the
American printing press!
20 on further and say we must depend |
upon the school for Il great deal of correct |
ing influence A community can 10 more
afford to have ignorant men in its midst
than it can afford to have uncaged hyenas.
Ignorance is the mother of hydra headed
crime Thirty-one per cent. Of oil the
criminals of New York state can neither
read nor write. Intellectual darkness is
generally the precursor of moral dark
ness. I know there are educated out
laws-men who, through their sharpness
of intellect, are made more dangerous.
They use their fine penmanship in signing
other peoples names, and their science in
ingenious burglarics, and their fine man
ncrs in attroit libertinism. They go their
round of sin with vol cut apparel, and
~danglng jcwelry, and watches of eighteen
k;lrats, and kid gloves. They are refined,
educated, magnificent villains. But that
is the exception. 1t is generally the case
that the criminal classes are as ignorant
aus they are wicked. For the proof Of
what shy, go into the prisons and the